glutIdleFunc

sets the global idle callback.

Signature

glutIdleFunc( )-> void
glutIdleFunc( function )
Specify handler for GLUT 'Idle' events
    def handler(  ):
        return None

Parameters

VariablesDescription
func
The new idle callback function.

Description

glutIdleFunc sets the global idle callback to be func so a GLUT program can perform background processing tasks or continuous animation when window system events are not being received. If enabled, the idle callback is continuously called when events are not being received. The callback routine has no parameters. The current window and current menu will not be changed before the idle callback. Programs with multiple windows and/or menus should explicitly set the current window and/or current menu and not rely on its current setting.
The amount of computation and rendering done in an idle callback should be minimized to avoid affecting the program's interactive response. In general, not more than a single frame of rendering should be done in an idle callback.
Passing NULL to glutIdleFunc disables the generation of the idle callback.

Example

A typical idle callback to animate a window might look like:
void idle(void) { time += 0.05; glutSetWindow(window); glutPostRedisplay(); }
Notice how the idle callback does not do any actual drawing; it only advances the time scene state global variable. That is left to the window's display callback which will be triggered by the call to glutPostRedisplay.
If you use the idle callback for animation, you should be sure to stop rendering when the window is not visible. This is easy to set up with a visibility callback. For example:
void visible(int vis) { if (vis == GLUT_VISIBLE) glutIdleFunc(idle); else glutIdleFunc(NULL); }
If you do use the idle callback for animation, one thing you should not do is setup the idle callback before calling glutMainLoop . It is much better to use the visibility callback to install idle callback when the window first becomes visible on the screen.

See Also

glutTimerFunc glutVisibilityFunc

Sample Code References

The following code samples have been found which appear to reference the functions described here. Take care that the code may be old, broken or not even use PyOpenGL.

glutIdleFunc
OpenGLContext OpenGLContext/glutcontext.py Lines: 127, 129, 138
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson11.py Lines: 171
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson18.py Lines: 283
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson6.py Lines: 209
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson41.py Lines: 341
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson16.py Lines: 192
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson23.py Lines: 252
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson5.py Lines: 221
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson4.py Lines: 173
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson26.py Lines: 238
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson12.py Lines: 172
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson3.py Lines: 150
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson13.py Lines: 203
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson1.py Lines: 123
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson19.py Lines: 264
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson42.py Lines: 411
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson2.py Lines: 145
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson6-multi.py Lines: 247
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson45.py Lines: 493
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/NeHe/lesson48/NeHeGL.py Lines: 148
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/proesch/nurbs/nurbs.py Lines: 206
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/da/dots.py Lines: 79, 82, 104
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/gears.py Lines: 257, 259
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/shader_test.py Lines: 135
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/glutplane.py Lines: 164, 167, 189, 195
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/tom/conesave.py Lines: 54
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/tom/checker.py Lines: 113
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/tom/lorentz.py Lines: 121
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/tom/arraytest.py Lines: 99
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/tom/text.py Lines: 114
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/GLUT/tom/cone.py Lines: 115
OpenGL-Demo PyOpenGL-Demo/redbook/double.py Lines: 97, 100
OpenGL-Demo py2exe-example/shader_test.py Lines: 137
{LGPL} PyUI2 renderers/openglGlut.py Lines: 169, 172